[Funny] Texans eating Finnish food.

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Dave

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I like the one guy: "I'm black. At least I think I'm black; I could be Puerto Rican."
 
I came into this thread expecting some guys to get all wussy about eating some sort of pickled fish product, left being pretty impressed at the guy on the left for eating rotten fermented fish packed in what looks like salt slime. Fuck that.
 
For some reason I can't get the video to run properly, but whatever. Fermented herring is actually not as bad as it smells, though the stench is admittably repugnant. Also, in real fermented herring, pressure has been building up inside the can, so it is advisable to open the can under water, such as in a kitchen sink, in order to prevent a real stinker of an accident.

But the taste is actually not that bad. Traditionally it is wrapped up in flat bread (?) along with onion cubes, potato bits, and leek, though I guess you can use whatever you want. It tastes quite nice in my opinion.
 

North_Ranger

Staff member
Fermented Baltic herring. Lightly decomposed in its own brine.
A-yup.

And for our defense, surströmming is more of a Swedish thing, really. So no wonder those guys were gagging :p Because as we all know...



So no worries, guys. If any of you come over, I'll treat you to something nice. Like maybe some gravlax. Or smoked lake herring. Or lipeäkala. Of course, if you visit at Eastertime, I will insist that you try some of this:

 
I've had lutefisk, which I have no idea if I spelled correctly. It's some sort of fermented fish dish. It smells absolutely rancid. But the taste isn't all that bad.
 
I would like to try it once, just to say that I have... but I will not do it on a full stomach...
Wahad gave me Hollandse nieuwe when I visited the Netherlands. It's raw herring that's been gutted and de-boned, and kept on ice. To make it more appetizing, they put raw onions on it. You grab the tail, and drop it into your mouth, biting off everything in one go (at least, he did, so I did likewise). Holy. Christ.

I had never wanted to throw up from eating something before that, and I choked it down, but dear lord. I tried it, like you say, just to say I had, but damn damn damn. I won't forget that experience, or Wahad's bursting into laughter at my expression. It was worth it.
 

North_Ranger

Staff member
I've had lutefisk, which I have no idea if I spelled correctly. It's some sort of fermented fish dish. It smells absolutely rancid. But the taste isn't all that bad.
Actually, lutefisk and surströmming are completely different. Lutefisk is made by soaking fish - most commonly cod - in water and lye.
 
On a related note, my Grandfather went absolutely nuts for pickled Red Cabbage. He grew up in Denmark, came to Canada when he was 21 (ish), and until he died at 105, he still loved the stuff. My Dad has a taste for it too, though to me it's just "OK". As powerful as my Grandpa liked it (LOTS of vinegar... I think. Whatever it was that made it "strong"), was a bit much for me. Not a LOT too much, but more than I'd want.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
When I was 6th grader living in El Paso, there was this "candy" all the mexican kids were absolutely ga-ga over called "Limon."

So, my thoroughly caucasian friends and I went down the street from school to the little store that sold it and bought some. I was the first of us to try it, so just like I'd seen the limon aficionados do, I tore open the packet, tipped my head back, upended the open packet over my open mouth and flicked the packet to dislodge all the stuff inside at once into my mouth.

Now, I guess I was expecting some sort of sugar-based sweet, sort of like pixie stix.

Limon is basically salt crystals dusted in lemon powder.

It took something like 10 minutes for my friends to stop laughing at the face I made when that stuff made contact with my taste buds. To borrow a phrase from the Oatmeal, it was like tonguing Poseidon's salty butthole.
 
Wahad gave me Hollandse nieuwe when I visited the Netherlands. It's raw herring that's been gutted and de-boned, and kept on ice. To make it more appetizing, they put raw onions on it. You grab the tail, and drop it into your mouth, biting off everything in one go (at least, he did, so I did likewise). Holy. Christ.

I had never wanted to throw up from eating something before that, and I choked it down, but dear lord. I tried it, like you say, just to say I had, but damn damn damn. I won't forget that experience, or Wahad's bursting into laughter at my expression. It was worth it.
Hell no, herring is freakin awesomesauce!

Or, I guess herringsauce in this case..
But damn, I love it! :p
 
When I was 6th grader living in El Paso, there was this "candy" all the mexican kids were absolutely ga-ga over called "Limon."

So, my thoroughly caucasian friends and I went down the street from school to the little store that sold it and bought some. I was the first of us to try it, so just like I'd seen the limon aficionados do, I tore open the packet, tipped my head back, upended the open packet over my open mouth and flicked the packet to dislodge all the stuff inside at once into my mouth.

Now, I guess I was expecting some sort of sugar-based sweet, sort of like pixie stix.

Limon is basically salt crystals dusted in lemon powder.

It took something like 10 minutes for my friends to stop laughing at the face I made when that stuff made contact with my taste buds. To borrow a phrase from the Oatmeal, it was like tonguing Poseidon's salty butthole.
When I was in my 20's, I tried a mexican-favorite candy called "sal sabor" that they sold at my local convenience store. It was a dried plum sealed in a candy wrapper. Now, knowing that "sal sabor" means "salt flavor" in spanish, I expected it to be salty...but holy christ, I took one nibble and threw it away. But I'll be damned if not 10 minutes later, I was craving another bite. I ended up buying them all the time when I was in there.
 
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